Citizen Soldiers
Subtitle: New Hampshire's Lafayette Artillery Company, 1804-2004
Contributors: Azro Cram
Edition: 1st edition
Publisher: Peter E. Randall, Publisher; UNKNO
Published: May 15, 2004
Place of publication: Portsmouth NH
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 192
Subjects: History - Military History
First sentence: On February 22, 1878, despite the snow, rain, and hail, over a hundred and fifty people converged on the small farming community of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, to commemorate the birth of George Washington.
Description: In 1804, James Wilson of Peterborough organized that town's first artillery company, the Artillery Company of the Twenty-Second Regiment.  Two hundred years later, the organization still exists as the Lafayette Artillery Company, an institution that has been based in Lyndeborough since 1833 and is now New Hampshire's oldest remaining local militia group.

Through the years, the citizen-soldiers of the Lafayette Artillery have served their state and their nation with honor.  They were present at the defense of Portsmouth during the War of 1812, and served again at Newcastle's Fort Constitution in 1864.  They were called upon to suppress a riot during the infamous Amherst Muster of 1850, but were denied their request to serve the United States in the Spanish-American War.  Along the way, the artillery has sponsored its own baseball team, prompted the construction of Lyndeborough's Citizens' Hall in 1888 and its renovation in the late 1990s, organized Memorial Day observances and other patriotic celebrations, and hosted the most anticipated social event in Lyndeborough--the annual Washington's Birthday ball.

Today, the artillery--which is dedicated primarily to education and community service, participates in Civil War reenactments with its 1844 six-pounder brass cannon, originally issued to the group in 1845.

Researched from state and local documents, town histories, newspapers, interviews, and the Lafayette Artillery Company's own archives, this study traves the evolution of the organization from a local militia unit to a social group, and finally to a Civil War reenactment/social-service organization.
Table of contents: label: 1
title: Local Militias in New Hampshire, 1637-1803
pagenum: 1; label: 2
title: A Desire for Peace:  The Peterborough Years 1804-1933
pagenum: 15; label: 3
title: Honor to the County:  Lyndeborough's Lafayette Artillery 1833-1860
pagenum: 29; label: 4
title: It Still Lives:  War and Reorganization, 1860-1883
pagenum: 47; label: 5
title: Celebrations, Squirrels, and Citizens' Hall:  The Lafayette Artillery Redefined, 1883-1903
pagenum: 65; label: 6
title: Paint the Town Red:  Celebrations, Cigars, and Baseball 1904-1940
pagenum: 85; label: 7
title: Lack of Interest in the Company:  Struggles for Survival, 1940-1962
pagenum: 105; label: 8
title: Renovations, Reenactments, and Women:  The Modern Lafayette Artillery, 1962-2004
pagenum: 119; label: A
title: Appendix:  Azro Cram's Account of his Service in the Civil War
pagenum: 143; label: B
title: Captains of the Lafayette Artillery, 1804-2004
pagenum: 154; label: C
title: Lafayette Artillery Honor Roll 1804-2004
pagenum: 156